Oxfordshire put up another gutsy performance against Cheshire before succumbing 19-17 at Rudheath Social Club in Northwich.

It followed their tremendous display against Premier Division leaders Yorkshire in their previous outing, when they lost by the same margin.

Cheshire were just three points behind third-placed Oxon going into the fixture and the visitors went into the match with a weakened line-up.

No fewer than five men’s A team regulars – Dennis Smith, Kirk Shepherd, Chris Aubrey, Ian Moss and Stuart White – were unavailable due to the PDC UK Open qualifying round commitments.

On top of that, Karen Williams, Leanne Jennings and Babs Manning were all ruled out with illness The ladies B started the proceedings with a 3-3 draw, their wins coming from lady-of-the-match Sandra Cox, Belinda Grant and Julie Newman.

Graham Manning got the men’s B team off to a winning start.

Cheshire took the next before Keith Bedding, playing his first game in three years due to illness, made it 2-1.

This was followed by victories from Aaron Stevens and man-of-the-match Phil Addison.

Dion Newman secured another point, followed by a win from Ronnie Anderson, who went out on 105.

Michael (Paddy) Kearns also won for Oxon, before the home side took the last to make the match score 10-8 to the visitors going into the second day.

Cheshire’s A teams boasted internationals Tony O’Shea and Darryl Fitton, while their ladies included world champion Anastasia Dobromyslova, so they presented a formidable challenge for Oxon.

The ladies A team soon found themselves 4-0 adrift, with Linda Jones falling to Dobromyslova.

Then lady-of-the-match Deta Hedman, who was beaten by Dobromyslova in the recent world final, stopped the rot.

This was followed by another point captured by Fiona Carmichael, which squared the match score at 12-12 going into the men’s A encounter.

Oxon’s John Russell went down 4-2 despite a 27.44 average and he was followed by Stuart Dutton, who was pipped 4-3 by Fitton, despite averaging 32.26 and missing three darts at doubles for victory.

Ade Larner and Lee Russell gained two more points, with Cheshire replying each time, then Pete Hall, man-of-the- match Jon Jukes (27.98) and Kevin Lowe were all victorious for the visitors.

Up next was Nick Cobb against O’Shea and despite a top performance from the Oxon player, averaging 28.97, world championship runner- up O’Shea proved too strong as he prevailed 4-1.

Joe Palmer lost 4-0 despite averaging 29.71 and with Cheshire taking the final game of the day, they edged the battle 7-5 and the match 19-17.

Oxon drop to fourth in the table, but team manager Manning was delighted with their display.

He said: “It just proves how far Oxfordshire have come to go into a match against one of the top teams in the country eight players down and still only just miss out on a win.

“It was a great performance from all the players.”